Divine Ascension System - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Ertai_Planeswalker Jan 10, 2006 1:20:39	Divine Ascension This is a homebrew 'system' for divine ascension. It is designed for a world including epic play. However, the numbers can be crunched for non-epic play. I am going to use this system in my campaign. Before I can explain the system, I have to discuss the assumptions of the way divinity works in the multiverse. I put both the fluff behind the system, as well as the ability listings of quasi deities and champions, in spoiler blocks so you can skip either the fluff or the numbers as you wish. The way divinity works There is one Overpower in the multiverse. This Overpower is neutral in alignment and cares not for mortal worshippers, or in fact the deities themselves. It only cares about the Great Wheel. The Great Wheel itself is a complex ecology of planes, elements, and alignments. Like any ecology, if it is disrupted to much, it breaks down. Therefore, this Overpower divided the all aspects of the Great Wheel down into portfolios, and he delegates these portfolios among the greater deities. These portfolios give the deities their divine power. Every single creature, element, plant, ideology falls within one or more portfolios, and it is not uncommon for these to overlap. The bigger the portfolios influence on the Great Wheel, the more divine power is associated with it. That is why the war between good and evil and law and chaos is a continual struggle. If more mortals become lawful for example, then the power associated with the Law portfolio increases. The elemental portfolios for example, are portfolios worthy of greater deity status, because the elements appear on every plane. The portfolio of a race that exists exclusively on a single plane on the other hand, is only worth a demigod status, because it hardly has any influence on the great wheel. Because portfolios often overlap, the greater deities in turn delegate some of their responsibility to deities of lesser rank, whose portfolio overlaps with theirs. The lesser deity in return gains a small aspect of the greater portfolio, which increases its divine power. Therefore, a deity with a demigod portfolio of lakes (A subportfolio of water) might help govern the water portfolio of a greater deity, therefore making it a lesser deity instead. As a rule of thumb, every additional demigod portfolio grants one additional divine rank, every lesser deity portfolio grants two additional ranks, every intermediate deity portfolio grants three additional ranks, and every greater deity portfolio grants four additional ranks. This is the cause for the excessive amount of politics among deities, as each tries to expand it's influence among portfolios and thus it's power. The death of a deity is a shock for the Great Wheel, as a portfolio is suddenly unmanaged until the Overpower assigns it to another good divine candidate for the position. (Usually a deity that already tapped into the portfolio's power.) If a portfolio is unmanaged, it usually leads to excesses. For example, if a weather portfolio becomes temporarily unassigned, weather conditions might start to shift rapidly from one extreme to another. Finally, the Overpower can also simply take away a portfolio from one deity and give it to another, but it will only do so if the deity that had it neglected it's duties or proved incompetent.
#2 wotc_mel Jan 30, 2006 13:33:51	bump
#3 zombiegleemax Jan 31, 2006 16:36:07	I think you've made rank 0 and 0.5 too powerful. Say there's a lowly level 20 rank 0. (CR 40 or so) It would take a VERY powerful person to kill them. And I doubt that someone under level 20 would be rank 0 to begin with, so CR 40 is roughly the starting point. Level 40 player kills this person, becomes divine rank 0. (CR 60 or so). Pretty soon, they are gonna be able to easily destroy higher powered deities. Eventually, there would be nothing left. Just my 2 cents.
#4 Ertai_Planeswalker Feb 01, 2006 20:30:22	I think you've made rank 0 and 0.5 too powerful. Say there's a lowly level 20 rank 0. (CR 40 or so) It would take a VERY powerful person to kill them. As I said before, that's the point. I intentionally made the ELH's paragon template part of divinity because I wanted to create a bigger gap between mortals and deities then D&DG does. And I doubt that someone under level 20 would be rank 0 to begin with, so CR 40 is roughly the starting point. True, once again: This is intentional. The original rank 0 template has been graded between LA+4 and LA+6 on these boards, so you can close the gap as siginificant as i increased it if you like. Level 40 player kills this person, becomes divine rank 0. (CR 60 or so). Pretty soon, they are gonna be able to easily destroy higher powered deities. Eventually, there would be nothing left. Just my 2 cents. Well greater deities are divine too, so that cancels each other out right there on the spot. In my campaign world, greater deities will be epic characters with about 80 class level. And even if the pc's ever manage to get to level 80, I think that a difference of 16 or more divine ranks still skews the battle in the greater deities’ favor...
#5 the_one_true_shea_dup Feb 04, 2006 17:55:57	As I said before, that's the point. I intentionally made the ELH's paragon template part of divinity because I wanted to create a bigger gap between mortals and deities then D&DG does. True, once again. This is intentional. The original rank 0 template has been graded between LA+4 and LA+6 on these boards, so you can close the gap as significant as I increased it if you like. Greater deities are divine too, so that cancels each other out right there on the spot. In my campaign world, greater deities will be epic characters with about 80 class level. And even if the PCs ever manage to get to level 80, I think that a difference of 16 or more divine ranks still skews the battle in the greater deities’ favor. For people who think that the deities and demigods book was a tad "pansy," ike me, This kind of stuff is pretty right on. An epic character shouldn’t be taking out gods. They should be starting on the path to god. My friend ran a deity game where we all just warped up 20 outsider HD with Divine Rank 1. I really like the inclusion of the paragon. Often in the description of Gods. "Paragon" :mmmm; Paragon. I like the Paragon rules.

Post/Author/DateTime

Post

Ertai_Planeswalker

Jan 10, 2006 1:20:39

Divine Ascension

This is a homebrew 'system' for divine ascension. It is designed for a world including epic play. However, the numbers can be crunched for non-epic play. I am going to use this system in my campaign. Before I can explain the system, I have to discuss the assumptions of the way divinity works in the multiverse. I put both the fluff behind the system, as well as the ability listings of quasi deities and champions, in spoiler blocks so you can skip either the fluff or the numbers as you wish.

The way divinity works

There is one Overpower in the multiverse. This Overpower is neutral in alignment and cares not for mortal worshippers, or in fact the deities themselves. It only cares about the Great Wheel. The Great Wheel itself is a complex ecology of planes, elements, and alignments. Like any ecology, if it is disrupted to much, it breaks down. Therefore, this Overpower divided the all aspects of the Great Wheel down into portfolios, and he delegates these portfolios among the greater deities. These portfolios give the deities their divine power.

Every single creature, element, plant, ideology falls within one or more portfolios, and it is not uncommon for these to overlap. The bigger the portfolios influence on the Great Wheel, the more divine power is associated with it. That is why the war between good and evil and law and chaos is a continual struggle. If more mortals become lawful for example, then the power associated with the Law portfolio increases. The elemental portfolios for example, are portfolios worthy of greater deity status, because the elements appear on every plane. The portfolio of a race that exists exclusively on a single plane on the other hand, is only worth a demigod status, because it hardly has any influence on the great wheel. Because portfolios often overlap, the greater deities in turn delegate some of their responsibility to deities of lesser rank, whose portfolio overlaps with theirs. The lesser deity in return gains a small aspect of the greater portfolio, which increases its divine power. Therefore, a deity with a demigod portfolio of lakes (A subportfolio of water) might help govern the water portfolio of a greater deity, therefore making it a lesser deity instead. As a rule of thumb, every additional demigod portfolio grants one additional divine rank, every lesser deity portfolio grants two additional ranks, every intermediate deity portfolio grants three additional ranks, and every greater deity portfolio grants four additional ranks. This is the cause for the excessive amount of politics among deities, as each tries to expand it's influence among portfolios and thus it's power.

The death of a deity is a shock for the Great Wheel, as a portfolio is suddenly unmanaged until the Overpower assigns it to another good divine candidate for the position. (Usually a deity that already tapped into the portfolio's power.) If a portfolio is unmanaged, it usually leads to excesses. For example, if a weather portfolio becomes temporarily unassigned, weather conditions might start to shift rapidly from one extreme to another. Finally, the Overpower can also simply take away a portfolio from one deity and give it to another, but it will only do so if the deity that had it neglected it's duties or proved incompetent.

wotc_mel

Jan 30, 2006 13:33:51

*bump*

zombiegleemax

Jan 31, 2006 16:36:07

I think you've made rank 0 and 0.5 too powerful. Say there's a lowly level 20 rank 0. (CR 40 or so) It would take a VERY powerful person to kill them. And I doubt that someone under level 20 would be rank 0 to begin with, so CR 40 is roughly the starting point. Level 40 player kills this person, becomes divine rank 0. (CR 60 or so). Pretty soon, they are gonna be able to easily destroy higher powered deities. Eventually, there would be nothing left. Just my 2 cents.

Ertai_Planeswalker

Feb 01, 2006 20:30:22

I think you've made rank 0 and 0.5 too powerful. Say there's a lowly level 20 rank 0. (CR 40 or so) It would take a VERY powerful person to kill them.

As I said before, that's the point. I intentionally made the ELH's paragon template part of divinity because I wanted to create a bigger gap between mortals and deities then D&DG does.

And I doubt that someone under level 20 would be rank 0 to begin with, so CR 40 is roughly the starting point.

True, once again: This is intentional. The original rank 0 template has been graded between LA+4 and LA+6 on these boards, so you can close the gap as siginificant as i increased it if you like.

Level 40 player kills this person, becomes divine rank 0. (CR 60 or so). Pretty soon, they are gonna be able to easily destroy higher powered deities. Eventually, there would be nothing left. Just my 2 cents.

Well greater deities are divine too, so that cancels each other out right there on the spot. In my campaign world, greater deities will be epic characters with about 80 class level. And even if the pc's ever manage to get to level 80, I think that a difference of 16 or more divine ranks still skews the battle in the greater deities’ favor...

the_one_true_shea_dup

Feb 04, 2006 17:55:57

As I said before, that's the point. I intentionally made the ELH's paragon template part of divinity because I wanted to create a bigger gap between mortals and deities then D&DG does.

True, once again. This is intentional. The original rank 0 template has been graded between LA+4 and LA+6 on these boards, so you can close the gap as significant as I increased it if you like.

Greater deities are divine too, so that cancels each other out right there on the spot. In my campaign world, greater deities will be epic characters with about 80 class level. And even if the PCs ever manage to get to level 80, I think that a difference of 16 or more divine ranks still skews the battle in the greater deities’ favor.

For people who think that the deities and demigods book was a tad "pansy," ike me, This kind of stuff is pretty right on. An epic character shouldn’t be taking out gods. They should be starting on the path to god. My friend ran a deity game where we all just warped up 20 outsider HD with Divine Rank 1.

I really like the inclusion of the paragon. Often in the description of Gods. "Paragon" :mmmm; Paragon. I like the Paragon rules.